ai4bharat/Pralekha huggingface dataset:
Ministry of Micro,Small & Medium Enterprises
KVIC Rolls Out self-employment schemes to Empower Rural Artisans in UP’s Bundelkhand Region
Hundreds of people of the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh took a stride towards self-reliance by associating with self-employment activities of Khadi and Village Industries Commission . At a grand event organized in Jhansi on Sunday, Minister of State for MSME, Shri Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma distributed electric potter wheels, bee boxes and Agarbatti making machines to rural artisans of Jhansi district and adjoining areas of the Bundelkhand region. MP from Jhansi, Shri Anurag Sharma was also present on the occasion. An awareness program on Central Government’s flagship Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Program  was also inaugurated on the occasion.
The implements distributed by KVIC included 200 bee boxes, 100 electric potter wheels and 50 Agarbatti making machines. This will create a cumulative employment for over 600 local persons. KVIC has also provided training to these beneficiaries for carrying out activities at their doorsteps.
Shri Verma lauded the KVIC’s initiatives in the Bundelkhand region and said the machines given to these rural artisans would provide them with livelihood at their doorstetheir said, there is huge scope of employment creation in Uttar Pradesh, particularly the Bundelkhand region. The Minister added that the government is committed to expedite job creation by implementing flagship programs like PMEGP, Honey Mission and Kumhar Sashaktikaran Yojana in the region.
Chairman KVIC Shri Vinai Saxena said, these schemes of KVIC are aimed at empowering the poorest of the poor people. He said, Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh is a focus area of KVIC where a number of schemes have been implemented to create self-employment for the farmers, unemployed youths and women.
During the last 3 years, KVIC has empowered over 300 potters’ families in Bundelkhand region, creating livelihood for nearly 1200 persons of the community. It has also given a big thrust to the PMEGP scheme by setting up nearly 11,000 new manufacturing units in the region and thereby, creating 8800 direct employment. To support these projects, KVIC also disbursed subsidy amount of Rs 75 crore. Also, 16 Khadi institutions are currently working in the Bundelkhand region that are engaged in spinning and weaving activities by mostly women artisans.
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
Environmental Compensation Funds for Battery Waste Management
Ministry has notified Battery Waste Management Rules, 2022 on 22.08.2022 to ensure environmentally sound management of waste batteries. These rules mandate recyclers and refurbishers to register with concerned State Pollution Control Boards/Pollution Control Committees. Recyclers and refurbishers have been mandated to ensure that the recycling/refurbishment process is carried out in accordance with the guidelines prescribed by Central Pollution Control Board. Recyclers and refurbishers have also been mandated to ensure that hazardous waste generated from their activities is managed as per the provisions under Hazardous and Other Wastes  Rules, 2016.
Recyclers and refurbishers shall file quarterly returns regarding the information on quantity of waste batteries collected or received from various producers or entities, recycled/refurbished quantities, quantity of hazardous and/or other waste including solid waste or plastic waste generated after recycling/refurbishment and disposal of such quantity, and the quarterly return shall be filed by the end of the month succeeding the end of the quarter.
The environmental compensation collected under Battery Waste Management Rules, 2022 shall be utilised in collection and refurbishing or recycling of uncollected and non-recycled or non-refurbished waste batteries. The modalities for utilisation of the funds for waste batteries management would be recommended by the Committee for Implementation, constituted under the rules, for the approval of Central Government. Battery Waste Management Rules, 2022 were notified on 22nd August, 2022. The last date for filing of annual returns towards fulfilling obligations under Extended Producer Responsibility is 30th June, 2023 in respect of FY 2022-23.
This information was given by Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
Ministry of Commerce & Industry
Health on GeM workshop organised
The six-week long National Mission Series concluded with aworkshop on Health on GeM in New Delhi yesterday. The workshop organized by Government eMarketplace , in partnership with Ministry of Health and Family Welfare was aimed to sensitise potential vendors, suppliers and buyers from various parts of the country and different government agencies on the proven benefits of GeM and encourage them to procure more using this platform.
Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Preeti Sudan, in her inauguraladdress,urged GeM to further expand their products and services to cater to a larger set of buyers. She said that GeM isa platformwhere government has matched technology with transparency and the need for procurement from the government’s point of view along with all the stakeholders in the business.Shesaid that 400 products have been identified which are commonly consumed and the listhas been given to Bureau of Indian Standards  to set out standards for them, so that there is no scope for discretion and buyers and suppliers know what they have to adhere to it.
Secretary, Commerce,Dr. Anup Wadhawan,said that procurement has been a very critical and sensitive subject in Government, notwithstanding the volume of rules, regulations, procedures, cross checks, safeguards and the various precautions taken by government officials. He said that GeM offers the way forward to overcome all these pitfalls and it is a transparent platform with the possibility of procurement with some accountability for both vendor and procurer.
Speaking on the occasion,CEO, GeM, Radha Chauhan,said that it is a great opportunity for GeM to have such a platform to openly interface, interact and deliberate on health. Presently, GeM records close to 15000 transactions for healthcare products which is about Rs 220 crore worth of business and there is a tremendous scope for this business to flourish through GeM over the next few months.
Two panel discussions were held during the workshop. The first panel discussion focused on the challenges in transforming procurement of medical equipment, medical devices and drugs through GeM. The second panel discussed issues from sellers' perspective on how GeM can be a game changer in making the public procurement in the heath sector open, inclusive and efficient.
The workshop endorsed the transformation brought in by GeM in making the procurement of medical equipment, medical devices and drugs, more transparent, efficient and economical for government and manufactures. The participants also resolved to work together in ensuring that the benefits of the open transparent online market place is maximised in providing affordable health care to the people of the country.
Ministry of Commerce & Industry
Shri Piyush Goyal reviews initiatives taken by the office of Controller General of Patents Designs and Trademarks  to strengthen Intellectual Property  regime in the nation
Minister calls for the creation of a robust IP ecosystem for easier filing of IP applications and their quicker processing
Shri Goyal asks CGPTDM to focus on startups so that innovation and entrepreneurship are promoted: Shri Goyal
Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Shri Piyush Goyal held a meeting to review various matters and initiatives related to the Office of Controller General of Patents Designs and Trademarks  in New Delhi today. The meeting was attended by senior officials from the office of CGPTDM and Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade .
At the review meeting, the Minister reiterated the importance of efforts being made to strengthen the IP regime in the country. He called for a regular follow up on all these urgent matters so that IPR regime can be further strengthened and an ecosystem for easier filing of IP applications and their faster processing can be supported. Special focus should be given to startups so that there is more innovation and entrepreneurship in the country, Shri Goyal stressed.
It was informed by CGPDTM that a daily Open house is being held via Video Conferencing wherein stakeholders can share grievances/give suggestions regarding IPR cases/issues. Steps taken on filling up of vacant posts, creation of additional manpower in the IP office, complete digitisation of IP office, preparation on training modules for officials to enhance their capacities were also reviewed.
Further, action taken on the suggestions given by stakeholders during the National IP conference were also reviewed.
Prime Minister's Office
National Education Policy 2020 has been framed to make education in India inclusive, wholesome, rooted and futuristic: PM
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has shared an article written by Union Education Minister about National Education Policy.
Responding to the X post of Union Minister, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, the Prime Minister posted on X;
“Union Education Minister, Shri @dpradhanbjp, writes how the comprehensive National Education Policy 2020 has been framed to make education in India inclusive and wholesome as well as rooted and futuristic... Do read!”
Ministry of Development of North-East Region
Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh says, vaccination drive is proceeding smoothly in India having over 135 crore population
Union Minister of State  Development of North Eastern Region , MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today said that India’s vaccination drive is unmatched in its scale and despite a large population of over 135 crore and heterogeneous character of the country, the vaccination drive is proceeding smoothly. In Jammu & Kashmir alone, around 66% population above the age of 45 years have received the first dose of vaccine, he said.
In an exclusive interview to Sansad/Rajya Sabha TV, Dr Jitendra Singh said, India was the quickest to administer 100 million doses of vaccine and fastest to begin vaccinating those above the age of 18. He said, instead of politicising the issue, we should all collaborate to make India’s vaccination drive a mass movement.
The initial hesitancy or apprehension about taking the vaccine, said Dr Jitendra Singh, has also been overcome. In every part of the country today, all the eligible age groups are turning out in huge numbers for inoculation. He said, the second wave of the pandemic has further reiterated the need to receive vaccines for all eligible persons.
Responding to a question about the recent surge of COVID in Jammu & Kashmir, Dr Jitendra Singh said, from the end of April and beginning of May, entire Jammu & Kashmir particularly Jammu District has shown increased positivity rate and increased mortality rate. It became a matter of concern for the administration and also caused apprehensions in the society. However, he said, over the last one week, there has been a downward trend in these parameters and positivity rate.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, the mortality rate in Jammu & Kashmir peaked around 17th of May, but is now showing progressive decline. Another heartening feature, he said, is that around 66% persons above the age of 45 years have received the first dose of vaccine in the Union Territory.
Referring to reports about the Northeast turning into a hot spot, Dr Jitendra Singh said, there is no doubt that in recent times, the North Eastern States, which had remained unaffected in the first wave, have shown a steep rise in Covid positive cases. But the preparedness and the infrastructural capability is in place, with satisfactory handling of the situation and tremendous amount of confidence is there among the general public.
Dr Jitendra Singh also enumerated a number of initiatives taken by the Ministry of DoNER in the wake of the pandemic, He said, the Ministry of DoNER is helping State hospitals and other related health infrastructure in Northeastern States including Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Assam, and Tripura.
Dr Jitendra Singh also referred to the support by Japan and UNDP who have come forward to set up 8 Oxygen Plants in different parts of Northeastern regions. Meanwhile, he said, over 71 lakh persons have already been vaccinated in the North Eastern region with the maximum number being from Assam.
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Ministry of Science & Technology
Scientists develop gold microstructure substrate with tunable wettability useful in water transportation & self-cleaning
Scientists have developed a gold microstructure substrate with the ability to repel water as well as bubbles with tunable wettability, which can be used in designing microfluidic devices, biosensors and useful in water transportation and self-cleaning.
Wettability, or the ability of a liquid to maintain contact with a solid surface, is an important property in surface and interface science. Its influence is seen in many biochemical processes, sensing, microfluidics, water transportation, self-cleaning, industrial processes. The tunable wettability results from tunability in surface energy of the substrate, which can be utilized to regulate the direction of flow in water transportation and self-cleaning applications.
According to the recent work published in ‘Journal of Applied Physics’, Dr. P. Viswanath and his group from the Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences , an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology , have developed a substrate exhibiting morphological gradient that helps one to tune the wettability because of surface energy change. The morphological gradient in the substrate ranges from domes to elliptical holes.
Water and oil wetting studies at each position on the substrate revealed that wetting is tunable with morphology. The substrate showed hydrophobic nature, which gets magnified when coated with a self-assembled monolayer of octadecane thiol - a water-soluble sulfur compound with a carbon alkyl chain. The coating results in a reduction in surface energy, which in turn facilitates an enhancement in hydrophobic behaviour.
Underwater wettability investigations on the substrate showed that it mainly repelled bubbles and when functionalised with coating of octadecanethiol, it repels mainly oil. Ms. Brindhu Malani S, a research scholar working on this, pointed out that these studies would be useful in designing microfluidic devices, biosensors, and water transportation.
[Publication link: https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0017763
For more details, contact Dr. P. Viswanath .]
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
To strengthen Central Govt’s efforts to reduce COVID mortality, AIIMS Delhi starts Tele-Consultation guidance to State doctors on COVID Clinical Management
10 hospitals with more than 1000 beds to participate in the first session
Tele-consultation sessions twice every week, on Tuesdays and Fridays
As part of its holistic response and management strategy for COVID-19, the Centre remains committed to reducing case fatality rate by ensuring effective clinical management of all COVID-19 positive patients. For this purpose, Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare has now involved specialist doctors from AIIMS, New Delhi to provide expert guidance and knowledge support to doctors manning ICUs in State hospitals.
Tele-consultation is a critical component of the clinical intervention protocol for COVID-19. A specialist team of doctors from AIIMS, New Delhi shall provide guidance on effective clinical management of COVID-19 patients in the ICUs of different State hospitals through tele/video consultation. They will handhold the States in clinical management of COVID-19 patients to reduce the case fatality rate. These tele-consultation sessions for providing timely and expert guidance to the doctors in the States shall be conducted twice every week, on Tuesdays and Fridays.
The first session of this exercise shall begin from today at 4.30 pm. Ten hospitals have been selected, including nine from Mumbai  and one from Goa. These are: NESCO Jumbo Facility, P South ; CIDCO Mulund Jumbo Facility – T ; Malad Infiniti Mall Jumbo Facility, PN ; Jio Convention Centre Jumbo Facility, HE ; Nair Hospital; MCGM Seven Hills; MMRDA BKC Jumbo Facility, HE ; MMRDA BKC Jumbo Facility, HE ; Mumbai Metro Dahisar Jumbo Facility, T ; and Govt Medical College and Hospital, Panaji, Goa.
They have more than 1000 beds for COVID patients including isolation beds, oxygen supported and ICU beds. Today’s session will be led by Dr. Anand Mohan, HOD, Pulmonary Medicine, AIIMS, Delhi.
This tele-consultation exercise shall be extended to another 61 hospitals which have bed capacity ranging from 500-1000 on twice a week basis. A calendar of these expert-led tele-consultation sessions has been drawn up to cover the States till 31st July. Total of 17 such States shall be covered . Up to two doctors handling ICU patients from each hospital along with the Director General of health Services  of the concerned State will participate in the VC interaction.
PIB Headquarters
Mission 50000 Women Beneficiaries
Indian Overseas Bank, Regional Office, Thanjavur & Rural Self Employment Training Institute, Thanjavur have conducted a Mega RSETI function today  at Tamilarasi Conventional Hall, Thanjavur.
Mr. Karnam Sekar, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Indian Overseas Bank presided over the function. The Executive Directors of Indian Overseas Bank Mr. K. Swaminathan and Mr. Ajay Kumar Srivatsava graced the occasion. Mr. Sushil Chandra Mohanta, General Manager of the Bank and Mr. K. S. Lakshminarasimhan, Chief Regional Manager, Indian Overseas Bank, Thanjavur Region also participated in the function. All the directors of IOB RSETI participated in organizing the function.
The program was organized to celebrate the achievement of training 50000 women beneficiaries by various RSETIs of IOB located in 11 Lead Districts of Tamilnadu and 1 in Tiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Training was imparted to the women beneficiaries in various skill development activities like tailoring, embroidery, beautician training, papad, pickle & masala powder making, making paper bags, agriculture related training like poultry, dairy, pisciculture, vermi compost manufacturing, etc.,
Successful trainees of various RSETI were rewarded in the function and they shared their success stories and the remarkable role of RSETI in supporting them to become a successful entrepreneur. More than 1000 women beneficiaries participated in the function. 200 loans to the tune of Rs. 3.26 Crores under various schemes were also disbursed in the function to various beneficiaries. Around 30 stalls exhibiting the products manufactured by the RSETI trained candidates were also organized in the function.
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
COVID-19 Vaccination Update
More than 37.43 Crore vaccine doses provided to States/UTs
More than 1.67 Cr balance and unutilized doses still available with States/UTs and private hospitals to be administered
The Union Government is committed to accelerating the pace and expanding the scope of COVID-19 vaccination throughout the country. The new phase of universalization of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from 21st June 2021. The vaccination drive has been ramped up through availability of more vaccines, advance visibility of vaccine availability to States and UTs for enabling better planning by them, and streamlining the vaccine supply chain.
As part of the nationwide vaccination drive, Government of India has been supporting the States and UTs by providing them COVID Vaccines free of cost. In the new phase of the universalization of the COVID19 vaccination drive, the Union Government will procure and supply  75% of the vaccines being produced by the vaccine manufacturers in the country to States and UTs.
More than 37.43 crore  vaccine doses have been provided to States/UTs so far, through all sources and a further 48,65,110 doses are in the pipeline.
Of this, the total consumption including wastages is 35,75,98,947 doses .
More than 1.67 Cr  balance and unutilized COVID Vaccine doses are still available with the States/UTs and private hospitals to be administered.
Ministry of Information & Broadcasting
PIB Chandigarh sets up a Fact Check Unit to counter Fake News
Chandigarh, July 13, 2020
A Regional Fact Check Unit has been established by Press Information Bureau, Ministry of I&B, Govt. of India at Chandigarh. The objective of the unit is to fact check any news related to central government, which is specific to the states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and UT Chandigarh and may be incorrect or misleading.
Fact Check Units have been set up by the Press Information Bureau , Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India across the country to arrest the circulation of factually incorrect/doctored news over different modes of media, which often mislead people on various issues. The mandate of these Fact Check Units is to provide official/authentic version of any such news by making available the factually correct information in public domain.
An email id pibfactcheckchandigarh[at]gmail[dot]com has also been created to receive queries/ news stories from the region from public that may need to be fact checked.
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Ministry of Law and Justice
Nyaya Vikas Portal created for monitoring the implementation of Centrally Sponsored Schemes
Nyaya Vikas Portal allows four efficient ways of logging into the portal, thereby empowering stakeholders with seamless access to information pertaining to funding, documentation, project monitoring and approval.
About Nyaya Vikas: The Department of Justice has been implementing the Centrally Sponsored Scheme  for Development of Infrastructure Facilities for Districts and Subordinate Judiciary since 1993-94.
Under the Scheme, central assistance is provided to the State Government / UT Administrations for construction of court halls and residential units for Judicial Officers / Judges of District and Subordinate Courts. With further extension of the scheme beyond 31.03.2021, some new features like Lawyers Hall, Toilet complexes and Digital computer rooms have been added to the scheme for the convenience of lawyers and litigants, besides court halls and residential units.
The funds sharing pattern under the Scheme for Center and State is 60:40 in respect of States other than North Eastern and Himalayan States. The funds sharing pattern is 90:10 in respect of North Eastern and Himalayan States; and 100% in respect of Union Territories. This portal has been created for monitoring the implementation of this Scheme.